


The Fraser Record (Excerpts)

by custardpringle



Series: The Fraser Record (Excerpts) [1]
Category: House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski, due South
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:31:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/custardpringle/pseuds/custardpringle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>has passed and there continues to be little solid evidence favoring the truth of Constable Fraser's account, an increasing majority of expert opinion seems to be that it sheds far more doubt on his sanity than on the integrity of the laws of</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fraser Record (Excerpts)

_nailed my windows shut, threw out the closet and bathroom doors, storm proofed everything, and locks, oh yes, I bought plenty of locks, chains, too and a dozen measuring tapes, nailing all those straight to the floor and the walls. They looked suspiciously like lost metal roods or, from a different angle, the fragile ribs of some alien ship. However, unlike_ 1

> "Are you saying you've found evidence of a crime?"  
>  "Room language, Fraser. It's just like body language, only, I dunno, the room don't move."  
>  "Ray, the stakeout is over. There's no longer any need for us to be here. You should go home and rest."  
>  "Yeah, yeah, I know, just look at this for a sec."  
>  "Really, I don't-- _oh._ Oh, dear."

ago, the vast majority of publicity has been as much due to the men involved as to the facts of the case itself; in the three years of his highly unusual affiliation with the Chicago police department, Constable Fraser had managed to become one of the most recognizable and notorious people in the city, somewhere between a celebrity and an urban legend. There are even a handful of published reports arguing that the continued absence of Constable Fraser and Detective Kowalski has led to a measurable increase in the crime rate, although the amount of time in question is most likely too small to support any definite conclusion on the subject. At any rate, whether the attention is deserved or not, the case had already garnered a considerable degree of public interest even before the appearance of the document purporting to be Constable

> "Don't get it. The guy who used to live here, whatsisname, Zorro--"  
>  "Zampano."  
>  "Yeah, him, been dead for months, right? So why's this stuff still here?"  
>  "I really can't say. It hardly adds to the appeal of the apartment, should anyone be considering renting it."  
>  "Guess we'd better have a look."  
>  "Ray, I see no signs of foul play here, only that Mr. Zampano was clearly a very disturbed individual."

of graphologists from both the Chicago police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who have reached a consensus that the handwriting on the envelope, and in most of the document itself, corresponds to samples of Constable Fraser's handwriting. To the untrained eye, however, the resemblance is not immediately apparent. The journal received by the 27th Precinct was written in lettering that was abnormally narrow and spiky, slanting sharply to the right, and the pen had been pressed so firmly to the paper that it had punched through at nearly every punctuation mark and at the ends of the tails and risers to many of the letters. All these, according to the experts consulted, are indicators that Fraser was under an increasing degree of stress as events progressed-- sufficient stress, in fact, to render his handwriting entirely unrecognizable to the untrained eye. As for the reasons why this might

> "Ray. Ray. Ray--"  
>  " _What?_ "  
>  "Lieutenant Welsh is wondering why you haven't been coming to work. Hard as it may be to believe, Ray, people are worried about you."  
>  "Been busy. Fraser, you gotta see this, I found it."  
>  " _I'm_ worried about you. Please, Ray, you have to stop this."  
>  "The _[house](http://home.texoma.net/~goldenboy/house.jpg),_ Fraser. The one in the papers I found in Zantana's trunk. I found the [house](http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2457/paperstreethouseqh6.jpg), Frase, we gotta go check it out."

the strongest points of evidence against Fraser's account is the fact that, in the course of their joint investigation, neither the FBI nor the CPD has been able to uncover any trace of the [house](http://www.delsjourney.com/images/news/news_01-07-14/1-3361-Old-House.jpg) in question. Fraser's journal gives the address, quite clearly, as One Ash Tree Lane-- but that address simply does not exist in Chicago, whether in the city proper or in the suburbs. There is an Ash Tree Lane, but the [house](http://static.flickr.com/77/183079149_e5dab570e3_m.jpg) numbers along it begin at number 328. The next closest possibiity might be Ash Drive, which-- despite its typically suburban name-- is taken up entirely by abandoned factory buildings, and certainly does not lead to any residential structures. Beyond the address, unfortunately, there is very little potentially useful evidence in Fraser's journal; his account is concerned almost entirely with his experiences inside the [house](http://www.greenhousebed.com/images/Misc/Old%20house.jpg.jpg), and includes nearly no description of the [house](http://www.convenientoldhouse.com/images/beesonsm.jpg)'s external features, making

> "Hey, Frase, thought you weren't coming."  
>  "Your official status notwithstanding, Ray, I still consider myself your partner and your friend. I would be derelict in both capacities if I allowed you to explore this [house](http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_waterfront/0_around_edinburgh_-_waterfront_1wu28_old_house.jpg) on your own."

_total comes to 32' 9 3/4" which the[house](http://www.newnorth.net/~whsprpns/no.3.no.2.old%20house.no.1.6.1960.jpg) plans corroborate-- plus or minus an inch. The puzzling part comes when [he] measures the internal space. He carefully notes the length of the new area, the length of both bedrooms and then factors in the width of all the walls. The result is anything but comforting. In fact it is impossible. 32'10" exactly. The width of the [house](http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/screen/P02619.jpg) inside would appear to exceed the width of the [house](http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/screen/P05025.jpg) as measured from the outside by 1/4". Certain that he has miscalculated,_ 5

> "Oh, shit. _shit._ This can't-- it's fucking _impossible,_ Fraser, what the hell is going on here?"  
>  "A grievous violation of the laws of physics, apparently."  
>  "Feels like I just walked into a horror movie. This is nuts."  
>  "Ray, ignorant as I may be of popular culture, I do believe that it's generally a bad idea to go off exploring on one's own."  
>  "Which is why you're coming along, right? I mean, look at it, Frase. Whole hallway inside the wall. And I do not have one _clue_ why you're not curious, but I am, and I'm gonna check it out with or without you."  
>  "Ray, I can't let you go in there blindly. Proper preparation--"  
>  "You gonna hit me to keep me out, or what?"  
>  "I'd really rather not."

have done his best to keep track of their progress as they go deeper

> "Fraser, you sure you left those markers right?"  
>  "Quite certain, yes."  
>  "Then you _meant_ to leave this one pointing straight at a blank wall, huh?"  
>  "Not at all, Ray. I seem to recall-- oh, dear-- I seem to recall that this is where we entered from the living room."  
>  "So, what, we're trapped in here? In a big fucking maze _inside_ the goddamn _living room wall?_ "  
>  "I'm sure there's a logical solution."  
>  "Fraser, what part of _inside a wall_ did you miss?"

no way to know how long the experience lasted, although nearly a week passed between the last time Constable Fraser reported for duty and the next time anyone saw him or Detective Kowalski. There is nothing in Fraser's account, however, to indicate that they were in any way supplied for an expedition of even more than a day-- no spare food or water or even flashlight batteries. Nonetheless, there was no trace of them for a week, and presumably if there was a [house](http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/300W/fs7.deviantart.com/i/2005/220/3/3/old_house_by_dannyp5000.jpg) they were inside it for most of that time. If Fraser's account is accurate, it is almost probable that the passage of time, or even the functioning of the human body, was somehow distorted inside the [house](http://www.ci.liberty.mo.us/images/pages/N484/great%20old%20house.jpg). Given only sparse and contradictory facts, however, we can do no more than speculate about

> "As a matter of fact, Ray, this phenomenon is not entirely without precedent. As it happens, my own father--"  
>  "No. No. No thanks. For the love of God, do _not_ \-- let's turn here, why the hell not-- start in about your--"  
>  ". . . Ray?"  
>  _"Fraser! Fraser, what the_ hell, _get me outta here!"_  
>  "Ray, please, try to stay calm."  
>  _"Calm? Calm? Fraser, there was no wall between us a second ago._ You _try to be calm, huh?"_  
>  "I _am_ trying."

_akin to the root_ labi _meaning to slip or slide backwards though the commonly perceived meaning suggests difficulty and work. Implicit in 'labyrinth' is a required effort to keep from slipping or falling: in other words stopping. We cannot relax within these walls, we have to struggle past them. . . . If the work demanded by any labyrinth means penetrating or escaping it, the question of process becomes extremely relevant. For instance, one way out of any maze is to simply keep one hand on a wall and walk in one direction. Eventually the exit will be found. Unfortunately, where the[house](http://www.draftyoldhouse.com/old/image/DraftyHouse10.jpg) is concerned, this approach would probably require an infinite amount of time and resources. It cannot be forgotten that the problem posed by exhaustion-- a result of labor-- is an inextricable part of any encounter with a sophisticated maze. In order to escape then, we have to remember we cannot ponder all paths but must decode only those necessary to get out. We must be quick and anything_ 13

> "Why, hello, son. Funny I should meet you here."  
>  "Dad, in all honesty, I don't think I could imagine a worse time for you to make an appearance."  
>  "Manners, Benton. And it isn't as if I meant to end up here, wherever here is. I was only trying to build an addition onto my office."  
>  "I've been having some suspicions about that office, actually."  
>  "And you didn't see fit to tell me before now?"  
>  "Well, I've been trapped in this [house](http://www.908aw.afrc.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/web/060621-F-0000D-002.jpg). It wasn't as if I could just nip back and pass on the news."  
>  "Oh, I don't know, son. I think this is more than merely a [house](http://p.vtourist.com/1168259-Clarke_House-Chicago.jpg)."  
>  "So I had noticed."

out of all the many strange things in Fraser's account, seems to be one of the strongest points indicating that Fraser was mentally unstable and may have been for some time. Even through his writing, it is clear that he was entirely unsurprised to encounter his father-- even though Sergeant Fraser had been dead for years. His references to his father seem more affectionately annoyed than genuinely unsettled, which implies that he had been hallucinating his father's image, and interacting with it in this way, for some time before the advent of either an unnaturally structured [house](http://z.about.com/d/history1900s/1/7/Z/V/sf33.gif) or much stronger, more dangerous delusions-- whichever one chooses to

> _"Fraser! FRASER! That you?"_  
>  "Oh, thank God, Ray. Listen, we're trying to find our way through to you."  
>  _"We? You got company or something?"_  
>  "In a sense."  
>  "At least he's acknowledging my existence. It's an improvement."  
>  "Forget it, Ray, it's not really important right now. The point is, even if I find an exit, I don't intend to leave you in here."  
>  _"Fraser, listen, you gotta hear this before something happens, okay? You still there?"_  
>  "I'm here. Go on."  
>  _"There's a staircase in here, Fraser. Big spiral staircase. I dropped a quarter in, never heard it hit the floor--_ fuck _, Fraser, I want outta here, I keep hearing things. Something keeps growling."_  
>  "I know, Ray. I've heard it too."

with many aspects of Fraser's account, there are a wide variety of theories about the growling noise he mentions at several points. The noise apparently varies in volume, sounding closer at some times than at others, but at no point is the source actually revealed-- unless, of course, Fraser chose for some reason not to write about it, although his writing is characteristically thorough about even the most horrific portions of the rest of the experience. Whether the [house](http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/29642/060706s_old_house.jpg) is real or a hallucination, however, the significance of that growling noise is still important in comprehending what happened. Some believe it is merely a noise produced by the constant change in the structure of the [house](http://www.flownet.com/ron/pictures/house.JPG); other popular theories suggest a living creature wandering in the structure with them or, most disturbingly, a noise of hunger like the growling of an empty

> "Admit it, Benton, we're lost. Our only hope is to to try to find our way back to the exit."  
>  "Leaving Ray behind? I doubt that very much, Dad. And after all, it isn't as if _you_ were in any danger from being here. You're already dead."  
>  "Ah, but that's where you're wrong. I may be dead, but that lets me see things you can't. And trust me, h re is ven mor wrong with his [house](http://www.civilization.ca/hist/canp1/images/ca20_5b.gif) th n you can p sibly im gin ."  
>  "Are you all right? You're-- _flickering._ "  
>  "Ther 's som thing v ry wrong wi h his plac , son, more wr ng han y u can p ssibly im g n . Y u d t g ut. v r m d h Y k-- h r 's g g h m b ck w. d h w ll , B nt n-- _w ch ou_ "  
>  "Dad?"

seemed to have the ability to consume

> " _Dad!_ "

another mystery in Fraser's account: there was, given his experiences so far, very little chance of eventual escape, and yet

> "Hi there, Fraser."  
>  "Oh, Ray, thank goodness. I thought you weren't-- I couldn't find you, I-- it's wonderful to see you."  
>  "The floor went away, Fraser. Just-- went away, dropped me down, and I landed back here in the living room. Shit, Frase, I should be dead now. I'm not dead, am I? Check my pulse."  
>  "Ray, don't touch--"  
>  "God. Holy fucking god. Frase. Your hand."  
>  "I'd been-- ah-- trying not to think-- about that."  
>  "What the hell happened to you?"  
>  "A corridor closed. I couldn't quite get-- Ray, could we--"  
>  "Yeah. Yeah, of course. C'mon, let's get you to a doctor."

a little after 3 A.M., two John Does. Their anonymity was due not to coma or amnesia, but to their vehement refusal to give names; hospital staff have since identified them, from photographs, as Constable Fraser and Detective Kowalski. According to the doctors on duty at the time, they both showed signs of severe exhaustion and possible PTSD onset, although only Fraser was severely physically injured in any way. Kowalski had some bruises and a cracked rib, but seemed not to have noticed either in his concern for Fraser; the impression of the doctors was that he felt personally responsible for whatever had happened. Fraser, however, was only semiconscious; his left hand had been badly mangled, as if crushed by a heavy weight, and required a great deal of splinting and the prescription of heavy painkillers. The hospital's orthopedist recommended immediate surgery, but was assured that Fraser would be seeking such treatment elsewhere. Kowalski and Fraser apparently refused to stay in the hospital any longer than was absolutely necessary, and left as soon as Fraser's medication allowed him to

> "So. The Northwest Areas, huh? Never thought I'd actually get to see 'em."  
>  "Was there somewhere else you'd rather go?"  
>  "Nah. Big spaces, right? Big, white place, that's all I ask."

was, apparently, the last time they were seen

.

END

.

1Truant, xviii. 

5Danielewski, 30. 

13ibid., 114-5. 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to LiveJournal, 15 January 2007


End file.
